Gomez, Sullivan, Winslow agree to Senate forum at Stonehill College

All three Republican candidates locked in a fast-approaching primary race for a U.S. Senate seat have agreed to face off in a forum Tuesday, March 12, at Stonehill College.

The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

Writer

Posted Mar. 6, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Mar 6, 2013 at 6:04 AM

Posted Mar. 6, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Mar 6, 2013 at 6:04 AM

» Social News

All three Republican candidates locked in a fast-approaching primary race for a U.S. Senate seat have agreed to face off in a forum Tuesday, March 12, at Stonehill College.

It will be the first such event leading up to the April 30 primary.

Cohasset businessman and former Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez; Michael Sullivan of Abington, a former Boston U.S. attorney; and state Rep. Daniel Winslow of Norfolk have accepted invitations to the forum, which is being hosted by the Martin Institute at Stonehill College in Easton and co-sponsored by WickedLocal/GateHouse Media, WCVB Channel 5 and WGBH.

The hour-long forum will be free and open to the public and will start at 7 p.m. in the Pettit Atrium of the Shields Science Center.

Panelists will include WCVB Channel 5 senior political reporter Janet Wu, Adam Reilly from WGBH and Chris Burrell from The Patriot Ledger.

A forum for Democratic candidates U.S. Reps. Stephen Lynch and Edward Markey is scheduled for April 1 at Stonehill.

Massachusetts Republicans are hoping to recapture one of the state’s two U.S. Senate seats after former GOP Sen. Scott Brown lost his re-election bid last year to Democrat Elizabeth Warren.

The winner of the June 25 special election will fill the Senate seat left vacant by John Kerry’s resignation to become U.S. secretary of state.

Other debates are still being organized. Winslow said last week that he would like to see one debate in each of the state’s nine congressional districts, but the Sullivan campaign said four debates are enough for the primary race.

Republicans are finding more common ground in rejecting Democrats’ call to sign a pledge to discourage outside groups from running ads in Massachusetts’ special Senate election.

Markey and Lynch have signed the “people’s pledge,” similar to that signed by Brown and Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren during last year’s Senate contest.

Markey said the ban is targeted at the potential millions that could be spent on ads by individuals like longtime Republican supporters Charles and David Koch, and groups like American Crossroads, a super PAC headed by veteran GOP strategist Karl Rove.

Markey has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in PAC donations during the past two-year-election cycle, prompting criticism from the GOP.

“For Congressmen Markey and Lynch to posture about outside money in politics when their coffers are already filled with money from outside Massachusetts just shows you how inauthentic this pledge really is,” Winslow said in a statement released when Markey first proposed the pledge.

Meanwhile, Sullivan announced new hires for his campaign staff. Karyn Polito, a former state representative from Shrewsbury who lost her bid for state treasurer two years ago, will be chairwoman of his campaign.